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| Inspiration |
Struggle |
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"I think one of the tasks of a writer is to
invent a sense of this apparently senseless place.
It’s a very interesting scenario for a writer, an
extraordinary mixture of cultures. You have the
ancient city of the Aztecs, you have the colonial
backdrop, and downtown, you have the postmodern
city.
You can even speak of a futuristic city. For example
it has been used for many sci-fi movies. Total Recall
starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was filmed in Mexico
City."
Juan Villoro
"Carlos Fuentes says it’s almost impossible
to write in Mexico City because you have so many
social engagements, and everybody is always inviting
you out.
But I think it is a good place to write. People
have a very idealistic knowledge of intellectuals
and writers. It’s, relatively speaking, a privileged
position."
Writer Carlos Monsivais |
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Mexico
City: inspiration or impossibility?
Introduction
Mexico City is the largest city
in the world. It has inspired great books - but the difficulties
of writing in such a city are immense. Here, through extracts
and interviews, Mexican authors describe their complex
relationship to Mexico City.
"I
think this city is wonderful for a writer in many ways.
It’s full of energy that artists who live here really
enjoy. It is a passion to live in Mexico City. It’s not
normality. You really have to adore her or change address
and go to live elsewhere."
Author
Carmen Boullosa
"It’s
a dangerous city, it’s an angry city. You see people on
the streets begging, you see children between cars, people
running, not very well fed, without sweaters, you see
things that make you shiver."
Author
Elena Poniatowska
"When
I was a child some forty years ago, Mexico City had some
4 million inhabitants. Now, the truth is nobody knows
how many inhabitants it has. The statistics are more or
less a guesstimation and the city may have some 18 million
or 20 million inhabitants.
When German writer Gunther Grass was here in Mexico he
asked with German keenness, how many inhabitants and the
answer was, at the time, between 16 and 18 million. And
he was surprised because at the time Gunther Grass was
living in West Berlin and it had 2 million inhabitants.
This margin of error was as big as West Berlin. So that’s
how we live, nobody knows for sure, how many people live
here. It’s one of the chaotic aspects of the city."
Author
Juan Villoro
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 Listen
to the radio programme:
Latin American
Words - Mexico.
BBC
Mundo |
BBC
Brasil |
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